Controversial study suggests human intelligence peaked several thousand years ago and we've been on

reply to post by SymbolicLogic


Well, I'd venture to say that odds are those with the highest GPAs combined with good social skills don't end up working at starbucks. It's a competitive world and there are both winners and losers. The guy with a 2.8 GPA and poor social skills just isn't going to compete with the double major honors grad with a 3.8 GPA and the ability to inspire confidence.....but how did we get on this tangent?

just wait until we can put a computer into our brains

reply to post by Erectus


Um, I worked with a honors student in grad school who was working on the field side of politics.
He didn't even have a first aid kit or jumper cables in his load-out. Heck, he didn't even bring water for the workers. Yeah, really intelligent....

So, how is a GPA any kind of measure of... anything? It all depends on the class syllabus... derp.

Do I need to go into examples of drop-outs who became industry leaders? Because, that is most of them...

reply to post by christoph


Oh, they're working feverishly on it. They've developed an electronic power supply fueled from glucose to power the device. They want to link the brain to the web using a wireless device. All the information in the world at your brain stem.

Your brain stem? I think you have a mis-understanding as to what the brain stem is for...

Maybe your audio-visual cortex...

or you could just use contacts w/ hearing aids that have a wireless connection.... no surgery needed.... oh wait, we already have that technology.

www.extremetech.com...

There is the link. The technology is actually further along than this though.

Biological implants were deemed as too intrusive I'm guessing; neurological burn-out, rejection, infection, etc. So why make something extremely complex when it could be made simple?

I often think of historical lifestyles, like hunting and gathering, with a sense of romanticized nostalgia.

Perhaps it is some form of genetic memory, similar to animal species that are born programmed with migration routes.

We now live in a world where the primary incentive is pleasure and not survival. Not only that, but the pleasure driven endeavors are often appeased with readily available experiences. Sugar, fat, sex, drugs. It's also worth mentioning that our social society is more humor based than ever, and generosity is common. It's easy to eat, laugh, and survive.

A good point that's been mentioned is the prospect of using technology to boost our intelligence. Not sure if that is the right way of going about things.

It is worth considering that we should try and build more agriculture based communities with a stronger interaction with local nature.

I think above all else we should strive to maintain a variety of lifestyles across humanity.

A good way to test the theory would be to compare traits from groups in the world that still hunt and gather with those who have been urbanized for a few hundred generations.


It's also worth noting that our understanding of genetics and evolution is far from complete. For now, this study is little more than an idea to consider when planning our civilization.

Controversial study suggests human intelligence peaked several thousand years ago and we've been on an intellectual and emotional decline ever since

I find this hard to belive.

If we where so intelligent thousand years ago, how comes the ipod, iphone, ipad etc have only recently been invented?

reply to post by antonia

a different kind of intelligence

Do you mean the kind of intelligence that is synonymous with stupidity?

Is that what you mean?

IF so... yes, We are getting "A Different Type of Intelligent"

reply to post by TVeducated


because they were not in need of useless things like Ipads and Ipods because they serve no purpose for the souls needs.

Originally posted by christoph
just wait until we can put a computer into our brains

Why bother, everyone has one pretty much grafted onto their hands. Smart Phones.

Everyone has the ability to be an idiot 24/7 in public now.

Has society become less intelligent over the millennia? IMO, Yes. 2 thousand years ago people would sit down and discuss relevant topics and there were no lulz to be had.

Now, the best you get is "OMG LYK MY FACEBOOK PLX!"

and while we still have intelligent people sustaining society with snippets of technology, the general state of the average intelligence has surely been thwarted by the very technology that we use as a yard stick to say how smart we are.

We're as smart as the dumbest thing we've invented.... and even then if it breaks, just buy a new one.

It occurs to me when Professor Crabtree makes this comment about the average citizen from Athens, he is forgetting the behavior of those that did live in that day and age; they fought wars over greed. I am inclined to think, just based on that alone, they were not more intelligent.

That is not to say they were not equally as intelligent as we are. We have many more distractions than they had.
Greed is still the number one controlling factor in this scenario of intelligence. We are becoming more aware of this, but sadly that has not changed much since ancient Greece was a civilization. I think someone from that time would certainly fit in here, but they would not be any more intelligent than the average citizen today.

reply to post by ErroneousDylan


I wouldn't say we have been suffering from a degradation of intelligence as of late, more so that we have been replacing useful information that could benefit society with statistics, facts, and quotes about meaningless entertainment. Some people may not be able to propose any of Newton's laws of motion or how to turn a PC running windows or linux into a server, but a lot of them could probably tell you the latest celebrity gossip, or who's in what movie, or some sports statistics from the past 20 years. People are programmed from the very beginning of our public education to view science, math, history, and english as useless things that are difficult to learn that only apply to your advancement in education and your ability to go to college and that only a slim few will actually use anything learned in these courses in their jobs that they will do for society and some point in time.

Technology has contributed to our laziness too. Why read the book when you can watch the movie? Why think when you can be shown? It also doesn't help how we teach to both idolize and that "trivial" jobs are boring. Who would want to be a scientist when the majority view it as just some random person wearing a lab coat all day looking through microscopes at things some people cannot even comprehend when you could vicariously live as an international spy promiscuously traveling the globe chasing down random "bad guys". Why think when you can just become a mindless robot doing repetitive tasks on a computer from nine to five everyday and then just go home and drink yourself into a state of depersonalization in which you can join your team in winning that big game.

The biggest problem though, is your own. You should get out of the US and visit other parts of the world. After having visited Okinawa Japan I definitely feel more optimistic about the human species. Many characteristics of human behavior can be observed across both cultures, however the main focus of the culture is very different. While I believe it is in no way perfect nor in the direction I believe we should be heading, it still leaves a more positive feeling than the American culture left on me. They are much more focused on education, actual family experiences, and a healthier lifestyle than most of what I experienced around the US. They tend to be much friendlier than other people I have met in my life, keeping in mind there is still both sides of the extreme prevalent there.

I believe fully in what one of my Staff Sergeants told me at one point in my life, that being that the first people you meet are not usually the ones you are looking for. The most social people are usually the least secure about who they are and are often looking for people to join them in what can often be rather deplorable shenanigans so that they feel less queasy about their activities and feel it is more acceptable to do them. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Change how you meet people and see if you don't start seeing some differences in them compared to others.

Funny but this is what Creationists (old/young) claim that humans have been devolving since 'sin' entered.

reply to post by ErroneousDylan


i hope there's intelligence out there amongst the stars coz there's buggerall down here on earth!!

or approximately so goes the english song.

seriously, i see humanity has divided into 2 streams. and they are intensifying in the last decade or so. one stream is disinterested in anything but themselves. the other is not so locked into duality and is more concerned with "love thy neighbour" and enriching society and spiritual growth.
i think its also part of the play of vibration the planet is bathed in as it journeys through this portion of the galaxy.
its "shape up or ship out" time. its always darkest before the dawn and dawn, i'm sure, is about to break.

i believe that most on this planet only wear a thin layer of respectability over them and as soon as society breaks down this thin skin will evaporate. when the economic crunch hits and WW3 begins and food becomes scarce.

society has made tremendous advances in technology but not much spiritually, therefore it will go the way of many civilizations before it.

those who have advanced their real intelligence have also advanced spiritually. this is measured not by their book learning but by the heart,

Originally posted by knoledgeispower

Originally posted by Wongbeedman
Also, I like to think about how organised religion, pretty much ruling the world, and the dark ages etc.
How much history has literally been suppressed for religious reasons and for contradicting peoples beliefs?

Obviously this is all highly highly speculative before anyone jumps on me

I agree with you completely. Religion has held back our civilizations advancement for many years. Heck we could be a class 1 civilization by now but instead we have a very simple basic understanding of science and physics.

The article could be true that we did reach our peak intelligence but I do think we have been conditioned into being lazy and dumb for the last couple decades by our Government(s). I also think that it took a dive when both parents had to start working in order to provide for their families. Lack of discipline can lead to a decline in a will to learn and encourage laziness, as it has. Too many parents want to be their kids friends instead of disciplining their kids and all it does is set the kid up for failure later in life.

Yeah you're right about that, our governments don't have to, we've done that to ourselves with technology. Or even if they have, it hasn't been intentional. That's a really good point about our parents having to work, and my generation seems pretty screwed.
It fills me with dread when I think about the children of our future

Had a huge response ready until I got to this post. It sums it up well.

Originally posted by ArtOfTrance
Our minds are just working in different ways then they were thousands of years ago.
Skilled in one area as opposed to another does not mean intelligience is declining,it has been reassigned to less practical functions.

However, hypothetically, if someone from 2,500 years ago were to be reared in today's society since birth, he'd thrive far beyond the average imo. He'd be more genetically pure (like a purebred horse) and his brain would be wired more towards survival, domination, and understanding the surrounding world. His genes and brain development wouldn't be totally effed up from generations of GMO, toxic air, vaccines etc. too.

To address some other issues:
1) Rape, murder, etc., have more to do with behavioral and cultural factors than with innate intelligence.
2) The Industrial Revolution is the culmination of the work from generations. Each successor adding a piece to the puzzle, if you will, but not many ever understanding the whole puzzle. E.g. Many of you know how to turn on a computer, type, and surf the net, but do you know how to build a computer and how it operates? So, again, it's not really a great example to prove we're more intelligent than the ancients.
3) Education /=/ innate intelligence. Just because more of us today know how to read doesn't mean those ancients would have been incapable of reading. They could figure out how to map our planet's course in the galaxy for 5,000 years so far - so they were "educated" in ways we have lost and can barely use computers to conceptually understand. And, even then, we don't know how they did what they did, like Balbek or the Pyramids of Giza. How can people create such things without having the need to write down the process or record it? They had knowledge beyond our framework.
4) I think fluoride, toxic air, gene altering chemicals, brain damaging vaccines, and a culture that admires idiocy have more to do with the decline in critical thinking and brain usage than natural selection. Or perhaps avoiding such things IS part of modern natural selection? Pretty sick world.

Originally posted by troubleshooter
Funny but this is what Creationists (old/young) claim that humans have been devolving since 'sin' entered.

Not really. Having eaten from the tree makes us gradually more intelligent, but not necessarily more good.

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I dare suggest that this study may be wrong.

reply to post by MasonicFantom


"Genetically pure"

What the hell does that mean? That people of "mixed races" aren't as smart, strong, and attractive? I mean seriously... my ancestors come from over eight ethnic groups, am I somehow "inbred" because of that?

Well, I notice a lot on blogs that people have a hard time understanding when to use the words "where", and "were".

Alarm bells right there. Costly mistakes on such well intentioned threads.

Then I realize Im arguing with a nine year old on ATS from the Middle East about Obama.


Caveman figured out the wheel and we still havent found a way to get off of it. - Copyright me. trademarked.Owned.Protected. You will be prosecuted if you use that term without my permission.
Jail for a long period of time. You will owe me one million dollars.